Hi again,

I have made a video message for your child.  Would you please take a moment today to share this with them?

Thank you!

I hope you have been doing well.  Our staff has been busy planning and preparing for this ‘new adventure.’  This is new for ALL of us and I know that we are all feeling various levels of stress and apprehension about what is to come.  Please be gracious with yourself…this is new! Life has taken an unexpected turn and we are all doing the best that we can in our current situation.  I will do my very best to make things clear and easy to follow.

I thought it would be helpful to write out a plan for the coming week so you have an idea of what is to come.

Tuesday (today):  Your students supplies will be gathered up and ready to go home.  If your child wants any specific book from our classroom library than please email me today at pgoosen@highroadacademy.com.  Chromebooks will be packaged up and be ready to go home as well. Please note that gloves will be work when handling all of your child’s supplies. Pickup will be on Thursday (see below)

Wednesday:  I will be giving each family a call to check in and see how you are doing.  I will also ask about setting up a scheduled weekly time to connect with your child via Google Hangouts (this is on your child’s Chromebook already – more instructions on how to do this will come).

Please consider which day and time will work best for your child to chat with either Mrs. Goosen or Mrs. Riley.  They will be scheduled for 15 minute blocks.

Monday, Wednesday or Friday between 10:00 – 11:30

Tuesday, Thursday between 1:00 – 2:30

Thursday:  Families will come to the school and pick up their student’s supplies. More information will be coming from the office today.

Google Classroom is the platform that we will be doing all of our work from.  Students are familiar with Google Classroom as we have been using it this year.  I will send out a slideshow that Mr. Hancock made that shows parents how to navigate Google Classroom and give some specifics on how we will be using it while we are learning from home.

Friday:  I will be sending out information for getting onto Google Meet (video meeting) and emailing out a link for students and parents to test it out. Check for an email with the link on Friday morning (by 9:30)  I will be on Google Meet from 10:00 – 2:00 and students/parents can pop on and test it out.  It will be lovely to see you all!!  If your child isn’t available during that time slot but would like to test it out please send me an email with a couple of times you are available and we will ‘meet’ before Monday.

Monday:  This is our first day of school.  We will have videos and assignments set up for each day as well as a schedule outlining the week.  More information on what this will look like is to come.

A Few Other Notes…

Setting Up A Routine:  Children do best with a routine and it will be important for them to have a school routine during this time.  As all family situations are different, all schedules will look different.  We have provided a sample schedule that you can look over.  This is not meant to be something that ‘has to’ be followed, but rather a schedule for you to look at and take bits and pieces of, if it works for you.  For my family (Pam) we will likely be doing the core school subjects in the morning (Math and Language Arts) and then move into the Art, Socials, Science type activities in the afternoon.  Please do what works best for your family!

Communicating with Us:

Mrs. Riley and I want to be there for you and your child during this time.  This is brand new for us too, and we have been working hard to ensure this goes as smoothly as possible for both you and your child.  It will be a lot of ‘try and assess’ as we are learning how to do many things right alongside you.  If something is not working for you or your child, please reach out to us and we will do our best to help you out.

Both of us will also be at home with our own children during this time.  Like many of you, we will be juggling work and teaching our own children. Email will be the best way to get ahold of us.  Pam – pgoosen@highroadacademy.com and Leah – lriley@highroadacademy.com .  If you have questions during your child’s Google Meet with us, please feel free to pop on and ask questions as well.  In addition, if you would like to do a video conference with us separately we would be happy to set that up.

Lastly, please know that we have been praying for your families.  We love your children dearly and look forward to connecting with them and teaching them in this new way.

Mrs. Goosen

Good morning.

We have posted a letter from the HRA team and will follow up this week with some information on getting our classroom up and running.  These next few weeks will  look different but we are in this together!   We miss this beautiful classroom community and look forward to connecting with each of you very soon!

Love, Mrs. Goosen & Mrs. Riley

Dear Parents and students,

Welcome back. Usually, at this time, we would be welcoming you back into our classroom with sunny smiles, laughter and fun tales of holiday exploits filling the air. However, these are not usual times. Recent events have created lots of uncertainty and unknowns in our world.

One thing we do know is that God is great and powerful. He is someone who is always faithful. Even during this time, where plans seem uncertain and ever changing, we know He has a plan for us.

We have drawn a lot on our faith in God these past few days as we have begun to plan for what your child’s education will look like in the coming days and weeks ahead. Hopefully, this post will begin to provide you with some information on some of the things we are working on, providing you with some comfort and clarity. 

We want you to know that:

1. School will continue – Teachers are hard at work preparing materials and activities to students to work on at home. Recognizing that there are many things vying for your attention on the homefront, we are trying hard to not overwhelm you. However, we do not want to just send home busy work but rather activities that are still strongly connected with the BC curriculum. 
2. Establishing a routine is important – One of the best things for your child is establishing a routine that you can follow as much as possible. Therefore, a suggested daily schedule will be sent home to help with building those all important routines into your day. Children like knowing what is going to happen each day and what the expectations are.   
3. Connections with your child are important to us – We are thinking and praying for our students. We miss their smiles, their unique personalities and their energy. We have built relationships with your child during this year and want those relationships to continue even at this time. We want your child to know that we are still here thinking of them and knowing that they are still important to us. Throughout the week, we will be contacting you and your child – on a scheduled basis – using a variety of methods (phone, email, and video conferencing).
4. Technology can be a powerful tool for remote learning but may be difficult – Bringing a number of technology tools to work in delivering content, activities and materials to your child can make for a different kind of dynamic learning experience. However, we recognize that families have differing abilities in accessing technology at home. Over the next few days, you will be contacted and asked to complete a short survey which will help us to determine the needs and capabilities of families in accessing technology. At the Intermediate level, there are plans to send our Chromebooks home with each student so that they have equal access to a tool commonly used at school. 
5. Students may need items from school – Elementary students use a wide variety of tools to complete work. In order to facilitate learning at home, some of these items will need to be returned to you. The Office and Admin are developing plans to provide families time to collect supplies from classrooms. This will allow you to have access to some common materials including pencil crayons, markers, scissors, rulers, paper, some duotangs, etc. Cognizant of the virulent nature of the Covid-19 virus, we are working on a way for parents to pick these materials up while maintaining the social distancing guidelines put out by Public Health. A schedule will be released by the office of pick-up times for your child.
6. Primary content and activities will be distributed through your child’s classroom blog. Intermediate students will continue to use Google Classroom to get their materials, activities and content.
7. There are many things we don’t know yet – We are working hard to answer as many questions as possible as quickly as possible and will strive to keep you updated as soon as we know more information.

We want to thank you for your patience during this time. God proclaims, 

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you,  I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

You and your family are in our thoughts and prayers. We look forward to continuing to work closely with you, even in the face of these challenges.  

It’s the final week before spring break!  We are looking forward to this week as well as a well deserved break!  We have a few things coming up this week…

Pancake Breakfast:  This Friday our intermediate department will be having a pancake breakfast in the gym from 8:00 – 9:00.  Please have your child at school by 8:30 as we want to be finished by 9:00.  If you are able to come and help make pancakes please email Mrs. Wilms at swillms@highroadacademy.com.

Wear Green on Friday!  Students can dress up in green on Friday!

Final BMV this Wednesday:  Many students were not prepared for their Bible Memory verse last Friday.  Please encourage your child to learn their verse for Wednesdays test.

Romans 15:5-6  May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind towards each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Science Quiz:  Students will be preparing for a Science quiz on Thursday.  We will be reviewing the content in class and a study guide will be sent home tomorrow.

Upcoming Events:

Friday, March 13th Intermediate Department Pancake Breakfast

March 16 – 27th – Spring Break

Monday, March 30th – School reopens after spring break

Friday, April 10th – Good Friday

Monday, April 13th – Easter Monday

Thursday, April 23rd – Art Gala

I will be sending home March’s Bible Memory Verse tomorrow.  We will do the first verse THIS FRIDAY and the next verse the following Wednesday.

Bible Memory: Romans 15:4-6 (NIV)

Friday, March 6th

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

Wednesday, March 11^th

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind towards each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and once voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.